Redefining The Triangle

When I was invited with some of my friends into a socialite drinking session I was hesitant to go. I’m not used to be in those types of situations and I’d rather drink an ice cold of beer alone than being put in an uncomfortable situation. Oh well to cut the story short we agreed to drink it out the way we usually drink the “tagay” way. Anyways I was asked by one of my friend (who is gulping beer like there was a shortage of beer and San Miguel has gone bankrupt… hehe) if why does Chicago of Michael Jordan era successful….I answered him with just two words…. Triangle Offense!

Many believed that the triangle offense was invented by Tex Winter but actually it was designed by a hall famer coach Sam Barry at the University of Southern California but Tex redefined the system and became one of the most successful offensive weapon used in the NBA.

In 1984 a young guard named Michael Jordan was drafted by the Chicago bulls and made a name by himself averaging 28 points per game. He was the newly born star but his talent alone cannot win championships. He could score 60 plus but his teammates would only watched him and the offense became stagnant and predictable. Jordan was like an offensive dynamo that carries all the offense in his shoulders.

The Arrival of Phil Jackson and Tex Winter changes the whole scenario as the Triangle is implemented in order for Michael to pass the ball and his team mates in constant motion.

The triangle would start either in the lower post or upper post with the forward or the guard in the side and the point guard in the front thus forming a triangle. There are countless of options in the Triangle and the most effective would be when the scorer passes the ball on the upper post and the scorer runs through the center while the forward runs to the side so the Post person could either pass it to the center for a quick two or on the side for the slashing forward. And if neither of the two options is available he could either shoot it or pass it back to the point guard and the point guard could make another play. Its simple but there are lot of variations to this play. That’s why Phil Jackson uses a lot of role players for his one or two superstars. And as you noticed he uses players in the center position who are good shooters. Remember Bill Wennington, Horace Grant, Karl Malone, Robert Horry and Luke Longley. Having a dominant center is a plus for the triangle because he creates the double team and also could make a much wider options for offense like the Big Shaq. Anyways the downside of the triangle is that it can be defended easily using zone defense which is favorably use by some coaches against Phil Jackson’s team. But there are lots and lots of variety in the triangle that simply Phil Jackson never pushed the panicked button in his illustrious career. We have seen the success it made from Michael and Scottie Pippen and then from Shaq and Kobe and many coaches are now using the said offense like Tim Cone of the Alaska Aces and other coaches.

I would like to see Kobe win again the title with a new sidekick named Jason Kidd…for sure that would be some coaches back court nightmare… heheheh (gulp)

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 31st, 2007 at 10:50 am and is filed under Nba, sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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